To the person looking for service.
Find 2 companies, one to test, one to do the service. Make it clear to the company doing the testing they will not be getting the job, just initial (pre) and clearance (post) testing - this way they know giving a false positive is getting them nowhere. Have them test before the work, and then after the work to obtain clearance. Do not let either firm recommend the other.
Find a company with mold specific certifications behind their names, that know how to contain affected areas under negative air and abate properly via spore removal, not just a killing "treatment", any structural materials not ripped out should be abrased/blasted, then sealed, likely the hvac system should be cleaned/sealed as well.
For every good mold abatement firm in our area, there are 15+ complete moronic firms (such as pressure washing the interiors of houses, fogging and walking, etc.)
Based on your description, the job is going to be of considerable expense - on the low end breaking into the 5 figures, but it depends on so many factors. I quoted a similar job last week with only one bath as the source area, three affected adjoining rooms, and unfinished basement at $32,000 - not counting the rebuild side.
Ruff Hewn said:
How's come folks in the tropics aren't dropping like flies ??
They live with mold everyday
..L.T.A.
Same reason allergy shots work, same reason you get the squirts in Mexico and the locals don't - a resistance is built up.
3 years ago I was diagnosed out of the blue with E.E. (eosinophilic esophagitis). Dealt with this for over a year and a half. Lost the ability to swallow most days, almost ended up needing a feeding tube because I couldn't drink the elemental diet in enough qty, and I am an in shape guy, run 5 miles daily plus 90 minutes in the gym x6 a week. This completely took the legs out from under me. I went from 35 years old to 90 in a few months.
I had some hvac service completed at my warehouse near the end of that year and a half, the service guy asked if I knew the attic was infested with mold, I said no, went up, tested, stachi count through the roof (no pun intended).
I moved, a few months later, the EE went away less any treatment. Nobody else in the building had
any symptoms - just me.
It is a person to person thing, sometimes psychosomatic, sometimes real - in any case, it's real to the person suffering with symptoms. The whole point of abatement is to remove the potential danger. No different than on a cat 3 water loss. No guarantee someone gets sick if you try to save something considered by standard to be unsalvageable, but you remove the risk.
